Product Description
Beatrice Ojakangas brings to life the cuisines and customs of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, countries that share borders and bounty. Danes lead with smørrebrød (an open-faced sandwich), which may be topped with cheese, green pepper, and sliced fresh strawberries. Finns specialize in earthy, chewy whole grain bread. Norwegians have wonderfully fresh fish and seafood, and the Swedes gave the world smörgåsbord!

Ojakangas offers us true Scandinavian home cooking that features the best of what is in season. Scandinavian Cooking provides traditional menus for different occasions and seasons-from a Farmhouse Brunch with Buttered Potato Soup to an Old-Fashioned Christmas Smörgåsbord with Dip-in-the-Kettle Soup andNorwegian Cream Pudding, to a sumptuous Midsummer's Day Buffet with Salmon-in-a-Crust and Fruit-Juice Glögg.

A good Scandinavian cook has a flair for color, texture, shape, and simplicity in creating the food that these menus show off to perfection. Beatrice Ojakangas describes her experiences gathering recipes at the tables of friends on her visits to Scandinavia and the beautifully crafted tools and tableware that will help to make the Scandinavian dishes you prepare authentic.

Beatrice Ojakangas is the author of more than twenty cookbooks, including The Great Scandinavian Baking Book (1999), Scandinavian Feasts (2001), The Great Holiday Baking Book (2001), and Quick Breads (2003)-all available in paperback from the University of Minnesota Press. Her articles have been published in Bon Appetit, Cooking Light, Cuisine, and Redbook. She has appeared on television's Baking with Julia Child and Martha Stewart's Living, and lives in Duluth, Minnesota. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Very nice cookbook
This is a very simple, easy to follow cookbook full of every day recipes as well as special recipes for the holidays.I love almost everything Scandinavian, including this delightful cookbook!

Neat book
This is a neat book with not only recipes but some history as well.I tried out some of the recipes for Christmas cooking, yummy.

Just try it!
A wonderful book that combines a little trivia, a little history, and a little understanding into a culture that is widely ignored yet offers some amazing flavors in the culinary experience. If you are going to purchase this book, buy it with the Scandinavian Baking companion, as the two go well together and will assist amazingly in the creation of your own smorgasbord!I have used the recipes as additions to traditional American favorites for the Christmas holiday season and have gotten rave reviews (from children AND adults!).If you are bold enough to try some interesting combinations (oranges and garlic, anyone?), you won't be disappointed.

Very Pleased
It has a great look to it and the recipes look wonderful. It has Danish Kringle and I'm in the process of making that. I look forward to trying many more of the recipes soon. I'm going to order 2 more copies for my mother and friend.

Well loved and used cookbook
After I was first married, I purchased the HP version of Scandinavian Cooking. Wore the cookbook out from almost daily use. Am so glad Scandinavian Cooking was reprinted, because all the recipes are keepers. Every cook should have a copy, especially if they are married to someone from Scandinavian descent. ... Read more

Product Description
This charming and personal exploration of Scandinavian food and culture from one of public television's most charismatic cooks engages readers with personal anecdotes and flavorful recipes. Andreas shows the best way to cure gravlaks, make butter, prepare a poached salmon feast, and flambé a pork tenderloin with Scandinavia's favorite spirit aquavit. He shares his passion for traditional recipes such as Pork Rib Roast with Cloves, Mashed Rutabaga, and Norwegian Pancakes filled with berries.

In Kitchen of Light readers are transported to Viestad's Norway—fishing for cod, halibut, and salmon; gathering chanterelles, porcini, and wild berries. More than 100 recipes emphasize fresh, simple ingredients in delicious and elegant dishes such as Pepper-Grilled Oysters and Scallops and Roast Dill-Scented Chicken with Leeks and Potatoes. This inspired cookbook, a companion to the public television series New Scandinavian Cooking, is perfect for home cooks, armchair travelers, cultural food enthusiasts, and anyone who yearns for the simple life.Amazon.com Review
In Scandinavia, where the land stretches far enough north that half the year can be bathed in constant light or constant darkness, the notion of a "kitchen of light" has special meaning. In the case of Kitchen of Light, the cookbook by Norway's best known food writer, Andreas Viestad, and companion book to the TV cooking show of the same name, it means the shedding of light on a long-overlooked cuisine and culinary tradition. There is more going on in the Land of the Midnight Sun than smorgasbord.

Fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients need not always be a notion married to temperate agriculture and culinary zones. The seasons of fecundity can be compressed; the nature of local can truly be wild. Such are the lessons in Kitchen of Light. There is an underlying joy throughout this book: the long winter has been beaten back and great food once again weighs down the table. Viestad takes the reader into the country and into the lives of the people who have made something of a celebration of food and cooking.

Duck Soup with Madeira ought to wake up the sleepiest palate. In centuries past, Maderia was bartered in Norway for dried salt cod. Porcini Consommé gives honor to the brief but glorious wild mushroom season. An entire chapter is given over to gravlaks, cured salmon you can do at home with spice and Aquavit. In a land where cod and potatoes are no joke, Viestad proves that a contemporary touch can be both relevant and exciting. Yellow and Red Cod with Pomegranate-Mango Salad, anyone? Feasting is well-represented, and seafood lies at its heart--salmon, halibut, mackerel, pollock, shellfish. And just when you are falling into step, Viestad turn the corner and presents the likes of Glazed Leg of Lamb with Roasted Root Vegetables.

In the end, after reading and admiring this beautifully photographed and designed book where travel meets food meets joy, you'll have a much better insight into the people of Scandinavia, and probably a deep and unresolved desire to travel and dine there. Kitchen of Light is not only enlightening, you can bring it home. --Schuyler Ingle ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Love the show and this book.
This book has some very interesting stories and information besides the recipes.I really enjoyed reading it.If you like Andreas on the show, you'll likely enjoy the book.

Kitchen of Light
My wife and I enjoy Andreas Viestad whenever he is cooking on the pbs channel. We love the TV show and we are equally happy to have this book and it's recipies.
I bought a used paperback copy of Kitchen of Light. It is just like new, and a great bargain. It is perfect in every respect, but one. The printing of light text on a low contrasting background of light blue is difficult to read, especially with the glare of light on the glossy paper. I don't know if this is the case with the hard cover edition. Anyway, we are happy, but suggest that future books or printings are easier on the eye.

A Great Book, A Great Cooking Show, Mouthwatering Recipes
You just have to get this book to appreciate all the wonderful recipes it contains.Wonderful pictures of the countryside makes me wish I can visit one day.You won't be disappointed.

Simple ingredients with fantastic results!
I've been cooking through this book for the past two months, and have yet to find a recipe that disappoints.What I love is that it uses simple ingredients, but combines them in ways I hadn't thought of before.His broccoli dish with capers and anchovies is a new standard preparation for broccoli in our household now, and the seared fish with carmelized onions is spectacular, as is his roast chicken with leeks recipe.

What I particularly love is that almost all of his dishes can be thought of as week-day dinner meals, but their flavor and visual appeal make me feel like a much better cook than I really am!

Plus, the abundance of fish recipes has been terrific, since we've been trying to incorporate more of that into our daily meals of late.All around a terrific book!

gratelamb and cabbage stew
a gratelamb and cabbage stew even better left over the next day wonderfull thats all i can say ... Read more

Product Description
Trina Hahnemann's offering, The Scandinavian Cookbook, brings the essence of Scandinavia to life and to the table. Lars Ranek's food and landscape photography is just as remarkable as Trina's seasonal recipes.

Trina offers a modern twist on Scandinavia's traditions with wholesome and mouthwatering dishes organized by the calendar month. Her progressive take on taste celebrates the region's rich traditions of family meals and festivals, as well as its robust seasons, with simple recipes made from healthy and timely ingredients.

We get a sampling of the seasons with delicious recipes for an entire year's worth of fabulous and easy-to-prepare main courses, sides, desserts, and more. From Swedish Christmas Ham, Skagen Fish Soup, Salmon Burgers, and Kartoffelkage, to yummy Layer Cake with Strawberries and traditional Crisp Vanilla Danish Butter Cookies, readers will quickly discover that Scandinavian cooking is always in season.

Scandinavia may be a small region, but when it comes to food, its influence and impact are big.

Taste the traditions and the seasons.

* Cooks will enjoy 340 rich and evocative four-color photographs by Lars Ranek, who uniquely showcases the beauty he finds in the food and culture of Scandinavia. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Beautiful cookbook!
Not only are the recipes amazing, creative and spot on, the book itself is stunning. In addition to being a great resource in the kitchen, this book makes a beautiful coffee table book.

beautiful cookbook
Beautiful cookbook and well thought out.Great pictures and written well.This would be a perfect gift for someone.

Gorgeous, but flawed recipes
At first glance, this is an utterly beautiful book, with full-color, glossy photos of food and Scandinavian landscapes--food and travel porn at its best.Trina Hahnemann divides her recipes into the four seasons, which is an increasingly popular style of organizing a cookbook.It doesn't always work, but I think in this case it does, as she is in part emphasizing the seasonality of food in Scandinavia--especially the foods that are fished or hunted.She also puts together menus for different holidays, which is appropriate considering most of her readers in the United States will not be familiar with the customs in Sweden and Norway (the two cuisines most often highlighted).

All that being said, I have tried one recipe from this cookbook, and it was very nearly a disaster.I made the 'Rice Pudding with Warm Cherry Sauce,' a dessert traditionally eaten following Christmas dinner.The first pitfall was far too much salt in the rice pudding (and I used less than what was instructed), an error, I suspect, of translating from metric to English measurements.The second was too much sugar and corn starch in the cherry sauce, making it very closely resemble canned cherry pie filling.Not the result I wanted when I spent a small fortune on organic frozen cherries.I was also confused by her insistence that the pudding be eaten cold, as my second generation Swedish immigrant grandmother always served rice pudding warm.The resulting dessert was edible, but just barely.

I am not willing to give up on this cookbook, however, as it has too many promising recipes to try, including ones to use up my significant other's vast quantities of venison in the freezer.I will come back to this review and rating once I have tried others, but for now I must say I was very disappointed.

Not a solid cookbook but a good gift
Basically Danish dishes with a modern touch. Some wellknown Swedish and Norwegian dishes thrown in as well. Do not expect the author to be totally true to tradition. Actually there is no Scandinavian tradition per se; each country has its own cuisine, albeit similarites.

The book is of the coffee table kind with outstanding pictures. Around 2/3 of the book consist of scenery and food pictures. The book would be a great present to somebody who wants to know a little bit about food in Scandinavia.

Amazing
ths is culture speaking of food and the recipes are fresh though based on tradition.Wonderful ... Read more

Product Description
Cookbooks

The definitive word on sumptuous Scandinavian cooking, now in paperback!

Drawing upon her rich knowledge of Scandinavian cuisine and culture, expert chef and veteran writer Beatrice Ojakangas presents a multitude of delicious yet remarkably simple recipes in this cookbook classic, available in paperback for the first time. Scandinavian Feasts features the cuisine of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and it includes menus made up of a bounty of appetizers, drinks, smorgasbord, meats, fish, soups, vegetables, desserts, and baked goods. Easily as engaging as the dishes themselves, each recipe comes with an introduction that explains the cultural importance of the feast and details its seasonal significance.

During the long, dark Scandinavian winter, the meals tend to be hearty and substantial. In Sweden and western Finland, a traditional Thursday lunch consists of a meal of pea soup and pancakes. A typical winter dinner might include Danish crackling roast pork with sugar-browned potatoes topped off with an irresistible ice cream cake. Christmastime gatherings, in particular, are often a chance to celebrate witha cup of hot glogg or Swedish punch. When the winter is finally over, the seemingly endless summer days are savored along with the fresh fruits and vegetables that are hard to find after the short growing season. During the white nights of Sweden and Norway, it is customary to serve a midnight supper after a concert or the theater, while a special occasion such as a baptism or anniversary might call for a feast of dill-stuffed whole salmon followed by kransekake, a beautiful towering ring cake of ground almonds.

No matter what your level of expertise as a cook or where you live, the recipes are easy to use. The ingredients commonly found in most grocery stores and a conversion chart for metric measurements is included. Scandinavian Feasts is sure to delight enthusiasts of Scandinavian culture and lovers of fine food everywhere.

Beatrice Ojakangas is the author of two dozen cookbooks, including The Great Scandinavian Baking Book (1999), also published by the University of Minnesota Press. Her articles have appeared in Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Cooking Light, Cuisine, and Redbook, and she has appeared on television's Baking with Julia Child and Martha Stewart's Living. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great resource, better indexing would be helpful.
I have started to really appreciate Scandinavian cooking as a great culinary tradition, and this book brings this to life in a way that few other cookbooks do, by focusing on celebratory meals.Unlike other cookbooks, this is organized by celebration rather than by category.In other words, one gets complete meal plans rather than the normal organization by category approach.This is then a great resource for what one might serve for a specific occasion or seasonal festival.

However, what this book could really use is a second index organized by category.Currently it's very difficult to locate a recipe unless you have a pretty good idea what it's called.

As a whole, this is an outstanding work all things considered.I would highly recommend it as a Scandinavian cookbook.

The better artist ...
I should have been a chef. My friends say much nicer things about my cooking than my singing, that's for sure. Mostly I cook in my own franco-italo-thai style, but once in a while I suffer an irrational craving for the kind of food my grandmothers made. Hey, even vikings crave comfort food now and then! So, although I have shelves of exotic cookbooks, mostly gifts from relatives who have stayed home, this book of artful recipes and photos of Scandinavian Feasts is the book I rely on to transubstantiate nostalgia into food. And yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, who lives on lingon and laks.
Here's my grandmother's recipe for Swedish meatballs, which is exactly like Beatrice Ojakangas's in this cookbook:
6 tablespoons of butter
1 small minced onion
2/3 cup of bread crumbs
1 cup of water
3/4 pound of ground veal
1/4 pound of ground pork
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon of ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon of sugar

Saute the onion in one tablespoon of the butter until soft. In a very large mixing bowl, mix the onions, bread crumbs, and water. Let them stand a while. Add all the other ingredients, and beat them together until very smooth and fluffy, using an old-fashioned egg-beater for the exercise. (The book recommends an electric mixer.) Using two spoons that you've frozen in the snow (the book suggests using ice-cubes), shape the meat mixture into tiny meatballs (köttbullar) no bigger than kumquats. Use the remaining butter to fry the meatballs, shaking the pan constantly so that they brown evenly on all sides. Drain them and keep them warm on a platter. Use flour and good beef broth to make a gravy. Pour the gravy on the meatballs and serve hot, with Swedish mashed potatoes (potatismos) and lingonberries. Härlig!

And good Yule to one and all!

A Great Resource for Culinary Culture of Scandinavia
This book is filled with great recipes. One of our favorites is the spice rye bread recipe that takes rye bread and infuses it with essence of orange and molasses.

The book is not laid out traditionally with one section for beverages, one for appetizers, one for main dishes etc. That means if you are seeking inspiration for what dessert to bring to a gathering you need to have an idea of what you are looking for and consult the index.

If you are interested in learning more about the cooking in Scandinavia as part of their culture and celebrations this is a great resource. For each season there are several menus revolving around specific celebrations. Most of the menus include drinks, appetizers, main dishes, and dessert.

So far we have enjoyed every recipe we've made!

As always the best!
Beatrice Ojakangas proves again why she is the foremost expert on Scandinavian cooking.A great find and a good buy! ... Read more

Product Description
Discover the delights and distinctive flavors of Scandinavian cuisine in this beautiful book with more than 150 authentic recipes from Swedev, Norway and Denmark ... Read more

Product Description
Beatrice Ojakangas, the author of Scandinavian Cooking and The Finnish Cookbook calls on her Scandinavian heritage and wide-ranging knowledge of Scandinavian baking to produce the definitive book on the subject. The emphasis is on ease of preparation, and all these unusual and tempting recipes will delight readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Fabulous recipes, great stories and background that go with them
So many recipe books to choose from; where do you start? Well, I started with reading the reviews here at Amazon, and this book got such high marks I ended up ordering it - and I have not been disappointed. I'm reading my way through the book right now - yes, it's a recipe book you can read (as opposed to many others which are fun to browse but can get a little repetitive) because of all the snippets of backstory and custom woven throughout. It adds so much for me to be able to find out not only how things were prepared, but when, and why. I also LOVE that there are recipes from all over Scandinavia - I, for one, have never made recipes from Iceland before - and if there are regional variations, we are told about them.

In short - the reviewers here are not wrong, this is a wonderful book! The only thing that could have improved it would have been a few more pictures and/or diagrams - I like knowing how it's supposed to turn out - but this is not a flaw, just a 'wouldn't it be nice'.

Highly recommended.

Just What I Was Looking For
I've always wanted to learn more about Scandinavian cooking in general because of my Swedish ancestry, so when I saw this book on amazon and read the great reviews I had to buy it!

The majority of the recipes have simple ingredients. They use a lot of butter, eggs, almonds, cardamom and raisins. Cardamom seems to be used like American's use vanilla, in almost every recipe. I also found several recipes from my childhood, including a gingerbread house, spritz cookies and peppernuts.

The Contents:

Introduction
Ingredients
Mail Order Sources (I was able to find the more hard-to-find ingredients, like pearl sugar, golden syrup and almond paste online.)
Baking Tips
Bread For Meals
Breads For Coffeetime
Cookies And Little Cakes
Cakes And Tortes
Pastries And Pies
Savory Pies And Filled Breads
Index

The book doesn't include pictures, only illustrations on how to shape the different breads, cookies, etc.

Before every recipe the author includes information about the history of the recipe or how it's used today. Very interesting to read and great recipes!

Recipes sound good
I was very interested in purchasing this cookbook but more than a little disappointed there were no photos to show what the end product should look like.

Captures the Essence of Scandinavian Baking
You do not have to be of Scandinavian decent to enjoy "The Great Scandinavian Baking Book." I am a huge proponent of the long-term benefits of teaching children to cook, so I am always looking for recipes that are simple enough for children to prepare, yet delicious enough to inspire repeat performances. I also love the idea of passing down traditions that represent one's own heritage. The book fulfilled one of the two motivating factors behind my purchase.

Although most of the recipes in this book are too complicated and labor intensive to hold the attention of a young child (with a few exceptions, like the magnificent 6 ingredient butter cookie), some of the recipes, especially those that are designed to serve during the holidays, have the potential of becoming household traditions worthy of passing down to your children and grandchildren.

The only downside of the book is that you will need to purchase special cookware for some of the recipes (a simple warning to those who are unfamiliar with Scandinavian baking techniques); and if you are inclined to try recipes based on the accompanying illustrations, you will have to use your imagination instead, because the cover illustration is not representative of the interior design (which is the only reason I settled on 4 stars rather than 5).

Christine Miller coauthor of Bestemor's Brown Bread
Bestemor's Brown Bread

Uff Da!
I'm originally from MN and I have Swed and Norweg heritage. My BF is from Norway and has been in the US for a few years. Over Christmas, I want to make him feel at home :) I do wish the book had pictures though!! And there any several things that require "equiptment". ... Read more

Product Description
presents au thentic Scandinavian recipes from appetizers to desserts combining the culinary traditions of all five Scandinavian countries. Line drawings and proverbs in both the native language and the English translation add to its charm. Includes traditional Scandinavian Christmas recipes and is fully indexed. the book has lay-flat binding and plastic coating to render it impervious to the sticky fingers of impatient cooks! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Authentic
I purchased this book in the United States to complement my native Scandinavian cookbooks.It is truely excellent!The recipes are authentic, the necessary ingredients are only modified where necessary to their American counterparts and even my Finnish husband agrees this book is as good or better than anything purchased in our home countries.In addition, it is easy to understand.I have made many dishes for the first time using these recipes and I highly recommend this collection as being authentic and well selected.

Very highly recommended and requested by Swedish friends is Swedish Rye Bread.

She who never cooks, cooked with this one.
I never cook, but as a treat for my Danish-American husband, I tried some of these recipes.They were not only delicious, but the recipes were perfect.Measurements, timing, and ingredients were exact.Thesedelicious, hearty recipes were a delightful departure from steak andpotatoes.Especially good is the sweet and sour red cabbage and theprune/apple stuffed pork. ... Read more

Product Description
More than 300 authentic recipes gathered from throughoutNorway. 208 pages, 16 pages in full color, hardback.Appetizers, maincourses, breads, lefser, flatbread, soups, salads, desserts, pastries,cakes, cookies and candies.Special Help chapter, Party chapter,source section, temperatures, weights and measures conversions.English and Norwegian headings with seperate index. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Great cookbook
This is a very good cookbook for anyone interested in Norwegian cooking.The author explains a number of key issues in making traditional dishes (including rommegrot), and provides truly authentic recipes.

The food in the cookbook very good.The desserts are rich, and just about every major ethnic dish expected (Troll cream, lutefisk, rommegrot, etc).The book even has a detailed section on ways to fold napkins.

I am a fairly adventuresome eater, and this may lead to one caution with this book.Many books have conservative portions for desserts.Not this one.It is better if you are not quite sure how rich a dessert is to follow the recommended portion sizes.....

Scandinavian cooking is underrated as international cuisine goes.I have to give this cookbook five stars and recommend it to everyone.

My Mother's Recipes!
Finally, Norwegian recipes just like my mother's. Perhaps it's because the author is from Oslo and so is my mom but I was so thrilled to see the food we grew up with in this book. This weekend I made the yellow pea soup and, of all the recipes I found online, this was the only one calling for whole yellow peas, which is what we used in my house. We always had Lompa, not lefse. This book has lefse recipes AND a lompa recipe. Another, Sandkake. Everybody wants to grind almonds into the batter but not in my house nor in this book.

We lost our dear mother a few months ago and now more than ever I regret not learning more from her and this book is the next best thing. Thank you!

Good old fashioned Norwegian cooking
This book contains many of the traditional recipres my grandmother made when I was young.When she died her cookbook disappeared-this is a very suitable replacement.I highly recommend this book looking to rediscover their Norwegian roots.

Authentic Norwegian Cooking
This is a great book.My grandmother, who came from Norway says it is the best she's seen for authenticity!!Great Great.

Wonderful
My husband is Norwegian and I am Irish and Italian.We were at Epcot Center and stopped in Norway and had some lunch.Well, we enjoyed it so much that we purchaed the cookbook.The food in this cookbook brings back memories of his childhood.I would recommend this to anyone. ... Read more

Product Description
In this long-awaited book, Marcus Samuelsson introduces the simple techniques and exciting combinations that have won him worldwide acclaim and placed Scandinavian cooking at the forefront of the culinary scene. Whether it's a freshly interpreted Swedish classic or a dramatically original creation, each one of the dishes has been flawlessly recreated for the home cook. Every recipe has a masterful touch that makes it strikingly new: the contrasting temperatures of Warm Beef Carpaccio in Mushroom Tea, the pleasing mix of creamy and crunchy textures in Radicchio, Bibb, and Blue Cheese Salad, the cornflake coating on a delightful rendition of Marcus's favorite "junk food," Crispy Potatoes.
In "The Raw and the Cured," Marcus presents the cornerstone dishes of the Scandinavian repertoire, from a traditional Gravlax with Mustard Sauce (which gets just the right balance from a little coffee) to the internationally inspired Pickled Herring Sushi-Style. The clean, precise flavors of this food are reminiscent of Japanese cuisine but draw upon accessible Western ingredients.
Marcus shows how to prepare foolproof dinners for festive occasions: Crispy Duck with Glogg Sauce, Herb-Roasted Rack of Lamb, and Prune-Stuffed Pork Roast. Step by step, offering many suggestions for substitutions and shortcuts, he guides you through the signature dishes that have made Aquavit famous, like Dill-Crusted Arctic Char with Pinot Noir Sauce, Pan-Roasted Venison Chops with Fruit and Berry Chutney, and Fois Gras "Ganache."
But you'll also find dozens of homey, comforting dishes that Marcus learned from his grandmother, like Swedish Roast Chicken with Spiced Apple Rice, Chilled Potato-Chive Soup, Blueberry Bread, Corn Mashed Potatoes, ethereal Swedish Meatballs with Quick Pickled Cucumbers, and Swedish Pancakes with Lingonberry Whipped Cream.
From simplest-ever snacks like Sweet and Salty Pine Nuts and Barbecued Boneless Ribs, to satisfying sandwiches like Gravlax Club, to vibrant jams and salsas and homemade flavored aquavits, Marcus Samuelsson's best recipes are here. Lavishly photographed, Aquavit and the New Scandinavian Cuisine provides all the inspiration and know-how needed for stunning success in the kitchen.Amazon.com Review
What kind of food would a French-trained Manhattan chef, born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden, produce?The unique food of Aquavit, the Scandinavian restaurant whose refined, contemporary cooking Marcus Samuelsson presents in his eponymous debut cookbook. Samulesson's cuisine reflects the Swedish love of seafood, game, and pickled and preserved dishes, enlivened by Indian spices (brought to Sweden in the 17th century), plus other approaches. Thus Aquavit offers reborn Scandinavian favorites like Gravlax with Mustard Sauce and Swedish Roast Chicken with Spiced Apple Rice plus delights like Tandoori-Smoked Salmon with Goat Cheese Parfait, Hot-Smoked Char with Lemon Broth, and Glazed Salmon with Wasabi Sabayon. Though the book includes among its 150-plus recipes fare that's definitely friendly to the home cook--like Barbecued Boneless "Ribs" (made with boneless pork shoulder) and Slow Roasted Turkey Wings--this is fundamentally a chef's collection, and will probably be pored through more readily than cooked from. Nonetheless, for readers interested in the food of singular talent, presented in an oversized format as lovely as the cooking itself, the Aquavit is essential.

Chapters cover the basic menu stops, including soups, salads and sides, plus the likes of Steamed Crab Rolls from "Bites, Snacks and Little Plates"; Blueberry Bread from "Crackers and Breads"; and Lamb Sausage Wrap from "Sandwiches." Chapters on dessert offer such treats as Swedish Pancakes with Lingonberry Whipped Cream and Chocolate "Blini"; and a drinks section includes the unusual and very palatable likes of Lemon, Pepper, and Dill Aquavit and Yellow Mary Mix, a yellow-tomato bloody mary descendant. Illustrated with ravishing color photos that reiterate the sleek pleasures of the food, Aquavit is as special as its innovative and very worldly author. --Arthur Boehm ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Lovely book
Not the same as eating at the restaurant, but pretty close.A wonderful variety.Easy to follow instructions.Delightful "liner" notes accompany many of the recipes.

Not as intimidating as I initially thought...
Ever since my husband found out he was part Danish, he's really embraced his Scandinavian background (case in point, we went to Denmark for our honeymoon). We're big fans of Chef Samuelsson and have dined at his meat/seafood restaurant in Chicago and made our first visit to Aquavit earlier this year.

I've been hesitant to buy this book only b/c I expected the recipes to be way too complicated for home cooks. We love to cook, but I tend to stay away from overly fussy recipes. I finally bought it a couple months ago b/c Samuelsson was going to be at a food and wine event in Chicago and we wanted to have an autographed book, and I thought this would be the most appropriate one to have him sign.

Well I'm happy to say that after trying a few recipes, this isn't just a pretty coffee table book, but an actual cookbook I can see us using fairly often with recipes that are actually quite easy to execute.

So far we've tried the Swedish Roast Chicken w/ Spiced Apple Rice (loved the spice combination and even used it as inspiration for our Thanksgiving turkey), the Lamb Sausage Wraps w/ Spicy Sauerkraut and Garlic Mashed Potatoes, as well as the brine and Glogg Sauce from the Crispy Duck recipe (he just used the breasts, but we roasted a whole duck following methods from a combination of recipes).

There are definitely a lot more recipes left to try, but so far we haven't been disappointed by these. I also like the additional suggestions and commentary that he includes with each recipe.

Overall I'd say this is a great book if you want to explore a more modern style of Scandinavian cooking...and don't be intimidated by all the glossy pictures of fancy food! I'm not sure if I'd consider this a book for beginning cooks, but it does have a mix of easy-moderate-more advanced recipes that aren't as advanced as you might expect and turn out to be quite tasty.

A Soulful Scandinavian Smorgasbord
Ethiopian chef Marcus Samuelsson first made a splash when he founded Aquavit,a Scandinavian restaurant. He reinvigorated Scandinavian cuisine from its usual drab Northern flavors. After all,let's remember that in "Babette's Feast",the heroine prepares a fancy French feast--not a Scandinavian one(!!!)

"Aquavit" has numerous delicious and easy recipes. There's a mango chutney,a "grandmother's chicken soup" (with plenty of African flavors),Salmon in Orange-Fennel Broth,and Juniper-Apple Soup. Samuelsson is an expert in blending spices and flavors.

There are some drawbacks--not all of the recipes are practical,and the pictures show the dishes to be a bit too frou-frou for the everyday. It's more of a coffee table book than everyday use.

"Aquavit" marked Samuelsson's cookbook debut. His "Discovery of a Continent",however,is an excellent follow-up. When he explores African cuisine,he's at the top of his game. He may have reinvigorated Scandinavian cuisine-but he introduced African cooking to the world!

Aquait
Impressive Marcus Samuelson book. Gorgeous pix of inventive dishes. My used copy is in great condition and arrived quickly.

Aquavit:And the New Scandinavian Cuisine
This book is a delight to read, and the photographs are marvelous.The recipes are excellent and have provided inspiration for exploring my cultural heritage in a delicious and healthy way.I particularly appreciate the emphasis on fish and seafood. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of two hundred recipes for easy-to-prepare dishes from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland features such traditional meals as Swedish meatballs, Danish hash, hearty Finnish brown bread, and Scandinavian desserts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Classic Scandinavian Cooking by Nika Hazelton
This book is very well organized, and recipes easy to read. I was pleasently surprised to find many of my childhood favorites included. There is a good representation of various foods from all the Scandinavia countries, as well as authentic recipes and cooking ideas. An inexperiencedcook will easily be able to prepare a smorgasbord by using this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Traditional Danish food is based around the natural bounty of the land, with fresh fish from the seas and rivers, and delicious pork and dairy products from the animals that graze on its fertile pastures. This beautiful guide to the culinary delights of Denmark includes all the classic favourites, many of which have been cooked in Danish homes for centuries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Did the authors actually make these recipes?
The cooking times in this book are not correct.The baking, simmering and frying times are much too short.The book failes to give succint instructions.There are nice pictures, but the recipe information is incomplete.Furthermore, the book may not be intended for American audiences.It often calls for caster sugar, vanilla sugar, or corn flour.These are not truly American terms.A cook should be highly skilled or use another cookbook to cross reference some of the recipes because all steps are not included or explained well.The lack of proper directions concerning custard is just one example.After making many of the recipes in this book, I was dismayed at the authorship and how often I had to draw from previous knoweldge or review my Culinary Institute of America textbook.This book is not for beginners.

Not just herring and potatoes!
This Danish cookbook is just what I've been looking for! It's gloriously illustrated, has both weight and volume in the instructions, and goes beyond the stereotypical herring and potatoes stuff! There are recipes for pork loin with apples and prunes, salmon steaks with warm potato salad, rack of lamb, red berry soup, and an entire chapter devoted just to open-faced sandwiches. Now, frankly, I AM a big herring fan, so I was happy to see a recipe for herring in tomato sauce, too. But if you're not, you could spend your whole time in the dessert chapter (Mazarins! plum cake! rice pudding!) and still feel like you're getting your money's worth. Since I can't jump on that SAS flight to Copenhagen as often as I'd like, I'm looking forward to recreating my favorite Danish meals with Judith Dern's book. Smorrebrod, smorrebrod, smorrebrod! ... Read more

Product Description
This exciting collection of 100 recipes, each dish the favourite of a Scandinavian cook, spans the range of home cooking -- starters, soups, omelettes, pancakes, meats and pastries. Included are directions for making such tempting dishes as Norwegian Blueberry Omelette, Danish Butter Cake, Swedish Pancakes, and openfaced Danish sandwiches. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Travel book
This book was more of a travel guide through scandinavia than a cookbook and that was a bit of a disappointment for me. ... Read more